Conventional air conditioning systems for motor vehicles are installed by individually mounting the components of the system on the vehicle. When the installation is complete, the system is checked for leakage of air into the refrigerant system, then charged with the refrigerant, and rechecked for leakage. Performance of the system is then checked to see that the air conditioning system operates normally. If the system is not functioning properly or is leaking, the vehicle is sent to a repair station to correct the problem after vehicle assembly. This is inconvenient and time consuming in the overall assembly process.
Assembly and functional testing of the air conditioning system can be done far more easily off the vehicle assembly line in a test cell or on the engine trim line prior to installation in the vehicle. Accordingly, the present invention provides for installing all the refrigerant handling components of the air conditioning system on the engine off the vehicle assembly line and testing the air conditioning system for performance in a test cell or on an engine trim line so that when the engine is installed with the system on the vehicle, the system is functioning properly so that the vehicle assembly line is not held up.